‘Will do.’
‘Is John Macmillan available?’
‘Hold on.’
A few moments later Macmillan came on the line. ‘I heard about what happened to Jenny,’ said Macmillan. ‘I didn’t get in touch because I’m sure I would have ended up pulling you out of there. I let you make your own decision.’
‘I came very close,’ said Steven, ‘but I’m going to see it through to the bitter end now and then I’m going to take up crucifixion as a hobby, starting with Childs and Leadbetter.’
‘I know how you must feel,’ said Macmillan. ‘I’ve not been idle at this end but right now Sci-Med is about as popular as Polio in a nursery. No one wants to know us. I don’t think they even know why; the word has just got around that being seen with anyone from Sci-Med could seriously damage your career.’
‘If this thing can be traced right to the top I don’t think I want a career working for the bastards behind this any more.’
‘Let’s wait until we have the whole story,’ said Macmillan.
‘Everything is riding on a neuropathology report I’ve just asked for,’ said Steven. ‘Maybe you could have an expert standing by in case we need help with interpretation?’
‘I’ll see to it,’ said Macmillan.
The minutes passed like hours as Steven waited for the report to come through. Unlike microbiology tests, where time was needed to allow bacteria and viruses to grow in artificial culture, neuropathology was more immediate. The rat’s brain simply had to be examined by a histopathologist, thin sections made using a microtome and a microscopic examination carried out. The report came through at six in the evening. Steven spoke to the pathologist herself.
‘I found very clear evidence of spongioform encephalopathy,’ said the woman, who introduced herself as Dr Wendy Carswell.
‘Spongioform encephalopathy?’ exclaimed Steven. ‘But that’s BSE and Creutzfeld Jakob Disease and Kuru and things like that?’
‘Correct,’ agreed Carswell. ‘For want of a better description, you’ve got yourself a mad rat.’
Steven’s senses were reeling. ‘Mad Rat Disease? How in God’s name would it get something like that?’ he asked.
‘Sorry,’ replied Carswell. ‘I’m afraid I can’t be of much help there. I haven’t come across this sort of condition in rats before, but there again, I’m not often asked to examine rats’ brains.’
Steven thanked her and contacted Macmillan at Sci-Med. ‘You’ve heard?’
‘I have. I got right on to a chap at University College London about it. He’s an acknowledged expert in encephalopathies. He says that many animals do have their own species-specific type of this illness. He asks if there is anything to suggest that this is not the case in this instance.’
Steven thought for a moment. ‘Yes, there is,’ he said with some satisfaction. ‘A dog was affected too at the same time. That would just be too much of a coincidence. There has to be a common factor.’
‘I’ll get back to you,’ said Macmillan.
The phone rang ten minutes later and Steven snatched it up.
‘Diet,’ said Macmillan.
‘Diet?’
‘My man suggests that the animals have been eating foodstuffs infected with BSE. They’ve been getting the disease in the same way the cows did.’
‘Bloody hell,’ said Steven quietly.
‘Now we know just how high the stakes are,’ said Macmillan. ‘HMG needs another BSE scandal like turkeys need Christmas. Over to you, I’m afraid.’
Steven still felt shocked at the revelation. It meant that Thomas Rafferty had been feeding BSE-infected foodstuffs to his dog and the rats must have had access to it too? How? Where had it come from? How could a man with no need for animal feedstuffs of any description get his hands on BSE infected material and why? He had no livestock to feed apart from his dog.
He supposed that it was just possible that some infected animal feed might still be lying around somewhere, left over from the time of the BSE scandal but that didn’t seem at all likely in West Lothian. It wasn’t a big cattle-farming area. Even then, there had to be more to it than that for a general rat problem to have developed. It suggested that much larger quantities had been involved, not just some old sack left in the corner of a barn.
A barn? It suddenly struck Steven that Rafferty had a large barn on his property! He supposed that he had always assumed it to be empty but what if it wasn’t? He now remembered trying the door of it one day when he had been looking for someone and finding it locked. Come to think of it, why would Gus Watson spend so much time working on the plant machinery in the open yard if the barn was lying empty?
He wondered how he should approach finding out about the barn. His ill-fated night expedition to the barn on Peat Ridge, when he’d caught his hand in the rat trap was acting as ‘aversion therapy’ and making this an odyssey of fun he’d rather not repeat. But apart from that, if the barn held the secret that Childs and Leadbetter were sitting on, they would have almost certainly taken steps to discourage intruders. He looked at his watch; it was just after seven o’clock. He wondered if Gus Watson might be in the Castle Tavern tonight.
After a moment’s hesitation he phoned Jamie Brown and asked what he was doing.
‘Nothing much. What’s on your mind?’
‘How was Gus Watson when you saw him?’
‘Fine. He seemed to be recovering well.’
‘Well enough to be going out to the pub in the evening?’ asked Steven.
‘I think so.’
Steven picked up Brown at his flat and they headed west. ‘I thought if we’re lucky and he’s there, we might be able to “bump into” Gus in the pub,’ he said. ‘I need to know what’s in the barn at Crawhill.’
‘What do you think is in it?’ asked Brown.
‘BSE infected feedstuff,’ replied Steven bluntly.
‘And you’re telling that to me, a journalist?’ exclaimed Brown.
‘I’ve had enough of cover-ups and double-dealing, dirty tricks and all the bullshit of vested interests,’ said Steven. ‘All I ask is that you don’t go public before we have all the facts. After that… you can dump on the lot of them from a great height as far as I’m concerned. Deal?’
‘Deal,’ agreed Brown. ‘Where did this stuff come from?’
‘I don’t know yet. If Watson says the barn is full, as I think it is, we’ll go ask Trish Rafferty that.’
‘And I was thinking about a quiet night in with the telly,’ said Brown.
‘If Watson says the barn’s empty, you can still have it.’
The Castle Tavern was less than half-full on a Monday night but managed to maintain its air of general hostility and total lack of charm. Steven picked up snatches of conversation on their way through the cigarette smoke to the bar counter.
‘Fuckin’ telt him fuckin straight, it’s no ma fuckin’ job tae dae that!’
‘Fuckin right.’
‘An’ another fuckin’ thing…’
‘What are you having?’ asked Brown.
‘Lager.’
Steven sipped his beer and Brown his whisky as they leaned on the bar and looked about them to see if Watson was in. There was no sign.
‘We’re out of luck,’ said Brown.
‘I suppose it was odds against,’ said Steven. ‘But worth it to savour the pleasures of the Castle, don’t you think?’
‘Wouldn’t have missed it for the world,’ said Brown. ‘A warm welcome aye awaits ye at the Castle,’ he added in a hushed pseudo-Scots accent.
‘Haste ye back,’ added Steven.
‘Jesus!’ exclaimed Brown. ‘Look who’s just walked in.’
Steven looked towards the door and saw Childs and Leadbetter come in with Alex McColl from the Clarion.’
McColl stopped in his tracks when he saw Brown and Steven standing there and changed direction without acknowledging them. He had been heading towards the bar but now turned off to the left and sat down at a table as far away from the bar as he could get. Childs sat down beside him while Leadbetter came up to the counter to get drinks.